


Honesty is the Best Policy

by SentientMango



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Universe, Gen, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Miscommunication, Remix, Remus being Remus, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-04
Updated: 2021-02-04
Packaged: 2021-03-16 07:48:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29203854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SentientMango/pseuds/SentientMango
Summary: The sides get a chance to meet Thomas, communicate more with him! But that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll communicate with each other.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 32
Collections: TSS Fanworks Collective, TSS Fanworks Collective Discord: January Remix Challenge!





	Honesty is the Best Policy

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Altered Perspective](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24658426) by [alicat54c](https://archiveofourown.org/users/alicat54c/pseuds/alicat54c). 
  * In response to a prompt by [alicat54c](https://archiveofourown.org/users/alicat54c/pseuds/alicat54c) in the [tss_fanworks_collective_discord_january_remix_challenge](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/tss_fanworks_collective_discord_january_remix_challenge) collection. 



Janus picked at his nail through his gloves as he popped up into the real world. Well calling it real was a bit of an overstatement, it wasn’t like he could interact with anything or anyone, but Thomas was doing something that had some seblince to self care. 

So here he was, in the realm in between inside Thomas’s head and outside Thomas’s head with the other sides. It was a blank void besides the couch Thomas was sitting on. Thomas looked uncomfortable, he had his eyes screwed closed and he looked all too aware of his breathing.

Logan checked his watch, “I’m not sure this is the best use of Thomas’s time.”

“What would you rather him do? Flop at his audition?” Roman huffed, “No I think not. He needs to talk to me! I can help him and then we’ll get the part and all will be well!”

Remus chimed in, “I know a hundred and seventy eight ways to kill a man using a dildo and a flight of stairs!” 

“No we aren’t killing anyone!” Patton said firmly, “and if we were we wouldn’t do it like _that_.”

“Why not! How would you propose we kill someone?”

“I mean making it look like an acci— wait no that doesn’t matter! Thomas isn’t going to murder anyone!”

Remus shrugged and picked at his teeth with his fingernails, “oh well your loss!”

“It’d be too risky anyway.” Virgil said, “Thomas is a terrible liar.”

Janus raised an eyebrow, “Oh really? You insult me Virgil.”

“Thomas couldn’t lie to save his life, it’s not my fault he doesn’t listen to you.”

Janus looked back at Thomas, “perhaps. Or maybe even you don’t know how good he is.”

The lines of concentration on Thomas’s forehead relaxed slightly. Janus leant back against where he was leaning against the newly materialized wall as a room began to form around them. He didn’t see why he had to be there, Virgil was right, Thomas didn’t listen to him, and anyway Prince boy was the only one who was needed in this situation, acting was kind of in his domain. 

Everyone looked impatient, and despite Thomas relaxing slightly, he still looked just as squeamish. He wasn’t going to be able to relax with everyone like this. 

“I wish he’d just hurry up and do it.” Roman said.

“Well he’s not going to be perfect at it right away,” Patton reassured as Roman bounced from foot to foot impatiently.

“Exactly, and that is not the point of experiment.” Logan said, “All is not for naught if the proportions of the hallway are not perfect.”

The walls finished materialising and Thomas relaxed further into the couch. 

“There’s no way he will do this right,” Virgil hissed, “He’s not going to be able to picture anyone and then he’s going to fail his audition.”

Roman glared at Virgil, “He’s going to crush it! I mean how hard is it to picture a person? I know picturing me in all my glory might be a little difficult but-”

“Actually,” Logan said, “when you dream, you use faces of people you know to populate them, so creating new completely unseen faces is very difficult.”

“Oh and we all have _completely_ new and separate faces to ones _Thomas_ has seen.” Janus said.

Patton laughed, “I don’t know I think Logan has as much resemblance to Thomas as that Clark Kent fellow has to Superman!”

Logan blinked, “I- yes? They have- _we_ have…”

“Yes Logan?”

Logan groaned in frustration as he suddenly found words, “Morality! Our faces are the _same_!”

“Well clearly I look the most unlike Thomas!” Roman declared, “I mean we have Two Face and Dreary-Eye, and… whatever Remus is trying to be. But clearly me in all my princely glory is the most unlike Thomas.”

Remus and Virgil burst out laughing, Logan and Janus just looked confused, and Patton was nodding supportively.

“You sure are!” Patton said. 

“I’m sorry, are you actually humoring him here?” Virgil asked, “Janus literally is half snake!”

Janus pinched the bridge of his nose, “Yes, and not that this debate isn’t important enough to happen right now, but Thomas is trying to concentrate.”

Silence slowly fell over the group, the only thing that was making noise was the ticking of the clock in the background. 

Tick 

Tock

Tick

Tock

Tick

“This is a waste of time.” Virgil said his eyes trained on the clock.

“Let Thomas focus.” Janus said as he put a finger to his lips in a shushing motion. 

Thomas took a deep breath in and as he blew out Janus noticed the other sides becoming more translucent. Janus watched Roman curiously. This must be what happened when Thomas attempted to draw a side out, it probably felt weirder to Roman. He wondered where he was going to be when he fully disappeared, perhaps back in his room.

Thomas’s voice pulled him from his thoughts, “Woah this actually working! Uh person over yonder? Were you talking?” 

The other sides were completely gone, he had the metaphorical spotlight, this was… odd to say the least. Thomas’s eyes were opened and staring right at him which meant in the real world they were probably closed but that didn’t matter, he was _seeing_ Janus. Janus paused before deciding to play into the dramatics, there was only one chance to make a first impression after all.

Janus gestured and looked around the now empty room, “Oh no, that was one of the _many_ other people in this room!”

The feeling of scrutiny clambered up his spine and draped itself like a shawl over his shoulders, draping him in discomfort as Thomas scanned him up and down, up and down, up and-

“Okay… so you’re-” Thomas paused, “-my sarcasm?”

Janus shook off the feeling and enveloped an air of confidence as he turned so Thomas had a full view of his face and smiled, sarcasm… he could work with that. Oh but he could feel Virgil’s panic about his one on one time from here, the change in plans from Roman meeting Thomas to him probably didn’t help either, and that simply would not do. Janus made a quick flick of his wrist to suppress the thoughts. 

Thomas blinked like he had just lost a thought and Janus’s grin widened, “Why yes, absolutely! What an amazing deduction,” he drawled.

Maybe he overdid it a little, Thomas shifted uncomfortably in his seat, “Uh cool. Well, I’m Thomas, but… you already knew that?” He said as Janus laughed slightly. 

“Oh yes, that comes with the territory of being a part of you.” He said dismissively.

Thomas rubbed the back of his neck, “Yeah, right…”

The dark edges in the room grew a few shades darker and started to inch towards Thomas’s direction, and his shadow stopped mirroring his movements as it detached from Thomas and curled around him protectively. 

Oh Virgil was _so_ over dramatic.

Janus pushed himself off the wall and brought himself to his full stature and approached slowly, savoring every step.

“So my dear Thomas,” Janus said when he was just a pace or two away from being able to touch him, “What did you need my assistance for?”

Thomas’s shoulders were shrinking into his body, “Shouldn’t you know if you’re a part of me?”

Janus laughed and took relish in the way Thomas gaped at the sight of his fangs. He smoothly moved down next to Thomas and leant in like he was about to share a secret, “Now Thomas if I knew everything around here I would be you!” He leant back away from Thomas as Thomas laughed slightly, and crossed one of his legs over the other, “And I _totally_ care about every single little thing that happens in your life that doesn’t involve me.”

Thomas tipped his head to the side. “I guess! Well, I’m auditioning for this musical, you… know what that is right?”

“ _No_. I only live in _your brain_.”

“Point taken,” Thomas said. “Okay but for the part I’m auditioning for I need to get into a more villainous mindset. The villains always get the best songs and awesome outfits and are really cool but...”

“ _You_ are not like that,” Janus finished, “So you decided to talk to the part of yourself that _is_ villainous?” He drew back and fanned his face like he was trying not to cry, “I’m hurt!”

“No! I’m sorry that’s not what I meant, I just need to be suave and you know,” Thomas gestured at Janus when he couldn’t think of more words, “more bond villainy!”

Janus immediately leant back against the couch as he stared dead into Thomas’s eyes, and said, “Mister Bond, it seems I’ve misjudged you, your stupidity runs deeper than I thought. Thanks largely to your efforts there’s no way to stop me, you’ve been undone by your own hubris. And now the world will perish by my hands!”

Thoma’s eyes lit up and shadows retreated from around the room, “Yes! Yeah! That! Exactly!” He attempted to mimic Janus’s body posture.

It wasn’t perfect, but it was a start.

“We better get started.” Janus said, “What exactly do you want to practice first? I mean I’m sure your poker face and lying _absolutely_ don’t need any work at all.”

“I don’t know Sarcasm.” Thomas deadpanned, “I think I’m perfect at lying.”

“Maybe to yourself. Okay Mr. Confident, stand up, we’ll run your audition scene first, let’s hope your hubris truly isn’t your downfall.”

Thomas floundered, “Uh really? I mean I’m barely off book and-”

“And practice will make you worse?” 

Thomas conceded and stood up, his shoulders drew back, he looked more like Roman. Thomas began to recite the monologue, but Janus cut him off almost as soon as he started.

“I know you know but in any acting confidence is key. You _are_ going to defeat the hero, you _are_ the most notorious villain the stage has ever seen, now _act_ like it.”

After hours of intensive... training, for lack of a better word, Janus sank out expecting to be greeted to the empty mindscape, but instead everyone was there. They all seemed to be doing their own things, however as soon as Janus entered the room stilled.

“Welcome back,” Logan said eventually, breaking the silence.

Roman looked a bit annoyed, as he said, “oh yes I just hope you had a _ball_.”

“ _Roman_.” Patton warned before smiling at Janus, “How was it?”

“Good,” Janus said calmly. “With my continued help, Thomas might have half a chance.”

Roman rolled his eyes and mumbled something under his breath. Remus cackled at whatever it was and Virgil smirked and jabbed Roman in the side with his elbow.

“Right,” Janus said, ignoring the pressing feeling that something was off. “Well I have business to attend to. Do let me know if I can help you with anything.”

No one came for assistance.

The day Thomas got the part was a happy one for everyone. After a day of intense celebrations organized by a combined effort of Roman and Patton, Janus finally managed to sneak away to his room, glowing with pride. Thomas had listened to him and look where that got them! 

Janus laughed and lit the candles which lit his room with one flick of his hand before pausing. His room, it seemed different. Janus walked around the perimeter of his room, everything was where it should be, perhaps it was nothing.

What wasn’t nothing was the gift bag on his desk. It was a sleek black bag with yellow tissue paper coming out of it. Janus walked over and picked up the tag, ‘Thank you’ Janus frowned, thank you? He hadn’t helped any of the sides recently, well perhaps Roman, he’d helped Thomas get the part, but this seemed unlike him, and anyway Roman hadn’t had the chance to sneak in, he’d been with Janus ever since they found out Thomas got the part. Janus sighed and unwrapped it, if it was a prank he’d rather get it over and done with. 

Inside was a pocket watch, it looked old and worn, as Janus ran his fingers over it he could have sworn he saw it glow in the candlelight. There was Latin on the lid, _verum invenire_ , find the truth. Janus snorted and flicked it open, the clock was… warped in a way. It was in Roman numerals, but it was as if someone had peeled back the face of the clock to expose the gears. Janus watched as the hands ticked around, it seemed to be operational despite the curious design detail, half of it being exposed like that. Oh well, Janus thought as he slipped it into a pocket under his cape, it didn’t matter, it was truly beautiful.

~~~

It seemed some of the other sides were a bit antsy about Janus’s new relationship with Thomas, Virgil especially didn’t like how Janus could just talk to Thomas, as he often did, and Roman had quoted Uncle Iroh at him so many times, Janus often just said the quote with Roman when he started talking. 

_“It is important to draw wisdom from many different places. If you take it from only one place, it becomes rigid and stale.”_

Of course he had limits, they all did, it wasn’t like he could just appear at any time. He could talk to him whenever Thomas found himself in a meditative state, which he did much more frequently now that meditation had proven to be a positive force in his life. 

Janus had fun with how he addressed Thomas, sometimes he’d give him something more serious to work with, but other times… eh maybe he’d suggested pushing people down stairs or ways to subtly poison someone once or twice. He couldn’t really be to blame, those were fun!

But Janus wasn’t the only side who wanted to get in on the fun.

Remus and Logan were having a conversation in Thomas’s room while Logan tried to keep Thomas focused on meditation.

Logan hummed and he removed his hand from Thomas’s head, he didn’t need to keep contact, he had just found it was helpful to kickstart the process. “The term drifting off to sleep is so strange, you are not going anywhere.” Logan said thoughtfully.

“Au contraire nerd man,” Remus said as he flicked Thomas in the forehead which made Thomas’s forehead crinkle as he seemed to think something less pleasant before relaxing. Remus continued, “all sleeping people are actually just teleported into the ocean but like really deep down, you know how the ocean is like hyper unexplored? So all the creatures that live under there are just _crawling_ around on your unconscious body as it drifts through the great unknown, and we don’t even know what most of them do!” 

Logan nodded, “Well of course that’s not true, but the ocean really does have so much in the way of unexplored depths, some of which mankind might never know.”

“Or one day we’ll bite off more than we can chew! And then we’ll really be in trouble!” Remus said as he bit off one of his fingers.

Logan tilted his head as Remus’s finger began to grow back, “Yes it really is fascinating how large it is, but of course the great expanse of space is bigger.”

“And who knows what’s out there!”

“Exactly!”

Thomas huffed in frustration, “Stop—,” he whined, “I’m really trying to meditate, you know _clear_ the mind!” This caught the two side’s attention who noticed Thomas had gone from sitting up to lying down with a pillow clamped over his ears.

Logan reached over to refocus Thomas on meditation but Remus beat him to it, “That’s no fun!” Remus chirped, and his voice was amplified around the room, “How would you even go about clearing all the thoughts from your brain… Oh! I know! What if you cracked open your skull like an egg and literally washed your brain! I wonder if brains would taste any good scrambled...”

Thomas groaned and put one hand on the back of his head like he was verifying that his skull wasn’t open and curled up tightly in a ball. “Ugh…”

Remus grinned as he sat on the floor in front of Thomas, he wasn’t sure where Logan had gone, but at least the dork wasn’t interrupting. “Oh what would you do if an alien burst out of your chest, do you think you’d even know it was there before it came out? How much do you think it would hurt? Do you think you'd die? Cause I think you’d bleed out as your alien baby ate your guts and stuff, probably be slow and painful. What if there’s one in you-”

Thomas suddenly hucked a pillow at him. Remus yelped as he took the pillow straight in the face and fell backwards. As he lay on the floor a grin spread across his face which was covered completely by the pillow. 

~~~

Logan sank up into the commons where only Janus was, “I thought Thomas was meditating.” Janus said from his position on the couch, he didn’t bother to look up from his book, Logan had a different quietness from Virgil and none of the others were quiet when they entered a room.

“Good evening Janus. As did I,” Logan responded.

“What happened?” Janus asked, not really paying attention to the conversation.

“Nothing important.”

The pocket where the watch resided burnt against his chest and Janus swore under his breath as he yanked it out of his pocket, well that was one way to get his attention. The lettering on the cap was glowing. Janus blinked as a frankly ridiculous idea struck him, “Logan,” Janus said as he got up off the couch and walked over towards Logan. “Come look at this.”

Logan walked over and glanced at the watch as Janus flicked it open and held it up, fully prepared to look like a fool, as it started swinging on its own accord. Logan’s eyes traced the path of the pocket watch and his shoulders relaxed.

The room around them stilled in anticipation, all waiting for Janus, who had no idea, whatsoever, what he was going to do.

“Logan,” Janus started, “when I catch this watch, you will be compelled to tell me the truth of my next question.” Janus took a deep breath before quickly jerking his hand down and catching the watch. 

Immediately Logan blinked and glanced down at the watch in Janus’s hand, “Did… did you just try and hypnotize me? Because that is not at all how that works and-”

“What happened just now with Thomas?” Janus asked, completely ignoring what Logan was saying.

“Thomas is talking with Remus.” Logan said immediately before realizing what he’d done and wincing, “The hypnosis worked didn’t it.”

“‘Fraid so.”

“Fascinating,” Logan murmured.

“Honesty is the best policy.” Janus said as he pocketed the watch again.

“Well that means very little coming from you. Where did that come from?”

“It was a gift.” Janus said simply before asking, “how did it happen? Did Thomas need him for something?”

“Ah no, Remus muscled his way in, like he does. Properly forced Thomas to pay attention to him.”

Janus snorted, “Oh so often the way with him… but this must really annoy you. Remus and I begin the first to speak with Thomas.”

Logan shrugged, “Not particularly, Remus being near the beginning was inevitable, as soon as he realized it was an option it would be his goal and we all know how Remus gets about those. And Thomas needed you. I’m more curious about who’s going to react worse about learning this information, Patton or Virgil.”

“I bet three days of Remus not messing with your room that it’s Virgil.”

Logan raised an eyebrow, his room was often the center of Remus’s pranks, it was more suspicious when he went a day with no obvious goo or mysterious creatures, it left him on edge, “What do you get if you win?”

“I don’t know Logan, what _do_ I get if I win?”

Logan hummed, “I will attempt to convince Patton that you are a good force in Thomas, since I believe he’s relatively neutral towards you at the moment?”

“Yes, that’s… that’ll work.”

“We should bring everyone here so when Remus appears he can tell them all at the same time, they should all be told the same way, reduce the independent variables.”

Janus nodded, “Well I don’t know if it would get Roman, but I suppose that matters less, I could set a small fire in the kitchen. Burn something. Virgil would immediately come, trust me, and Patton I assume would also come?”

“It is a bit worrying that your mind went _straight_ to arson,” Logan said with a smile, “but yes that should be fine.”

~~~

As Remus recovered from the initial shock of having a pillow chucked at him he grinned, this was going to be so much fun. Remus pulled down the pillow and let his skin and muscles under his face tear open to reveal not his skeleton, but sunken eyes that seemed to be melting and whatever flesh-like thing his eyes were set into seemed to be rotting as he screamed at Thomas.

Thomas flinched back and pulled up his duvet between him and Remus as he squeeked.

“The good ol’ jumpscare! It’s been a while since I’ve gotten a chance to do that, but always a fun one right Thomas?” Remus looked at the bed where Thomas had been just a moment ago. “Thomas? Hey Thomas? Thomathy where’d you go?”

Thomas threw back the covers and Remus blinked in surprise, the hiding under the blankets tactic, it got him every time. Thomas positioned the pillow between him and Remus. “That was super not cool.”

Remus blinked and appeared at the end of Thomas’s bed, and leaned into the light. He grinned, being sure to show Thomas every inch of his wide sharp toothed smile. “Oh so you think I’m hot? You think I’m sexy?”

“What? No you’re me!”

Remus grinned and lay down on the bed, “Nothing wrong with self love!” 

Thomas pressed his palms into his eyes, “Ugh okay so what are you? My nightmares?”

“Only in your dreams!” Remus chirped.

“Okay so nightmares, but um kind of real? Like all my unrealistic… scary thoughts but real?”

“That’s the one!” Remus said as his eyes popped out of his head and bounced around like an overactive game of paddle ball.

“...right.” Thomas said he lay down, “Well horror, chaos gremlin, nightmares, _whatever you are,_ I’m going to sleep.”

Thomas closed his eyes and turned over but Remus was having none of it as he crawled on top of Thomas and pressed his face so it was almost touching him, he could feel Thomas’s breath, oh how easy it would be to suffocate him if he were real, how many times had Thomas been in this position with his friends? His family? “Hey.” Remus whispered.

Thomas opened his eyes and flinched, “Oh my god what do you want Nightmare?”

Remus grinned, his teeth glowing with radiation like light, it probably wasn’t healthily, but who was he to care! He wasn’t even real! “I just wanted to remind you that if you wanted to you could kill everyone you love! Oh and no need for all that formality! You can just call me Remus! Okay tatty bye!”

Thomas seemed shocked but as Remus hopped off the bed to figure out the most disturbing way to disappear.

“Wait you guys have names? Does Sarcasm have a name?”

“Yep!” Remus stepped back as Thomas’s curtains grew teeth and waved excitedly, “don’t let the curtains bite!”

“Wait Remus!”

The curtains swallowed him and returned him to the space where he couldn’t be seen but could see, he looked around as the curtains spat out his bones and the entire contents of his stomach. Curtains, apparently, aren’t a fan of glow sticks, tide pods, pins, make up, and whatever else he’d eaten recently. 

When Remus entered the mindscape it was borderline chaos, Remus took a deep breath in, savoring the confusion, anger, panic, before skipping up to the small crowd with glee.

The air smelt like smoke and Virgil was clutching a fire extinguisher, as Patton attempted to pry it out of his hands. Logan and Janus both looked… guilty? Maybe… it wasn’t an emotion Remus felt, he took his behavior in stride!

As Remus approached, Logan and Janus shared a slightly panicked expression. 

Remus just grinned and shouted, “Hello~ Comrades! Friends! Enemies! I’m here now,” he pointed at Virgil who was glaring at him, “No need to fret emo.”

Patton offered him a supportive smile, “What have you been up to?”

Remus’s grin widened as he watched both Janus and Logan’s faces just crumple. “Oh you know just the norm, talking to Thomas!”

Virgil bolted upright and shook his head as Patton tried to calm him down again, “Oh no fuck no, Janus, Remus, that means _I’m_ next! I can’t be next! What would I say, what if he _hates_ me!”

Logan shook his head, “There is no way for you to know you’ll be next, there’s insufficient evidence to-”

“And even if you were next,” Patton cut in gently, “You’d do great! And you can always choose not to answer him!”

Virgil shook his head, “No no no that’s out of the question, that would just make him hate me more.”

Remus picked at his nails clearly bored with the conversation.

“How did it go with Thomas?” Janus prompted.

“I’m so glad you asked! I totally scared him! And then gave him something to think about! Oh the metal agony! He’ll be up all night.” 

“What did you say?” Logan asked, curiosity written all over his face.

“I told him my name, and then he asked if Janus had one and I said yes and just left!”

Logan snorted into his hand before straightening up and saying, “as Logic I am forced to say that was very… bad Remus. It could negatively impact Thomas’s sleep schedule.”

Remus raised an eyebrow, “But as Logan?”

“I, Logan, find that to be a clever way to mess with Thomas’s head, as I would be lying if I said prior to learning the nature of Janus’s name, I had never fixated on what it might be, and I bet the look on his face was figuratively priceless.” 

Logan offered Remus a tentative high five which Remus enthusiastically smacked before pointing to a terrified looking Virgil. “You’re up the bitching hour!”

~~~

Janus had found that usually when Thomas meditated he wasn’t really looking for much of a conversation, it was generally when he wanted to relax, calm down, or sleep, but one day he did it in the middle of the afternoon with no of his usual reasons present and Janus could feel him practically begging for his presence.

“I’m here, no need to panic on my behalf.” He said as he materialized.

“Sarcasm!” Thomas said happily, “okay I can’t believe I forgot about it but I wanted to ask you, did you get my gift?”

Janus blinked in confusion momentarily before reaching into his pocket and pulling out the watch, “This?”

“Yes! Oh I’m glad it worked, I wasn’t sure I’ve obviously never tried doing anything like that before-” Thomas cut himself off with a wave of his hand, “But I digress, it’s just a small thank you for what you helped me with, it’s not like it really does anything-”

Janus raised an eyebrow at that.

“-it just looks cool! Like something a Bond villain might have, since like our conversation and you being all like that! I just thought it fit your aesthetic! But you probably knew that since you’re the most in control right?”

Janus blinked and almost laughed in shock, “Oh yes. I’m totally the one in charge.”

Thomas looked up sharply, noticing the tone of Janus’s voice “It’s not Remus is it?”

“Oh god no, but I almost forgot you met him, how was that?”

Thomas rubbed the back of his neck, “Well he said some... interesting things.”

“Yes he does tend to do that.”

“Do you have a name?”

Janus hummed, “oh yes I would think so.”

“But you... don’t know it?”

“Don’t be silly Thomas, I know absolutely everything.” Janus said only half answering Thomas’s question.

“So… you know how many of you exist?”

Janus sighed, “Thomas that’s not up to me is it? You _imagined_ me, I’m not real, I’m a part of you, a fragment of your complex personality that you use to better understand yourself. There are as many of us as you need or want because you are _literally_ just talking to yourself. Think of me as an imaginary friend, I’m always there, even when you stop talking to me, what I am is still there, in your heart or something, but I’m not real.”

Thomas nodded, “Yeah I knew that.”

“But you wanted to hear it,” Janus said simply, “and that’s part of the reason I’m here. I tell you what you want to hear and sometimes what you need to hear.”

“Thanks Sarcasm, I appreciate it.”

Janus picked at his nails, “but I totally didn’t mean to help you, it’s in my best interest if you're in inner turmoil after all”

Thomas smiled slightly and closed his eyes before relaxing back into himself, “Right… thank you.”

Janus tipped his hat even though Thomas probably couldn’t see him and disappeared into the shadows.

The commons were eerily quiet when he appeared in it. Janus hummed as he looked around, everyone was busy so it seemed, he started headed towards his door. As he passed Patton’s door he heard Logan’s voice say softly, “But doesn’t he deserve the same benefit of the doubt we gave Virgil?”

Janus’s heart squeezed and he smiled to himself before making his way back to his room, Logan always kept a promise.

When he arrived the very first thing he noticed was that the candles were lit, curious, he always put them out, fire hazard and all that, although Virgil would probably laugh at him for worrying about a few silly candles considering he literally set fire to the kitchen a couple days ago. He stepped a bit further into his room and glanced around the room encased in flickering shadows. Someone was standing by his desk, playing with a leaf of his plant. It didn’t take long for Janus to recognize the figure, he knew that extravagant outfit anywhere.

“Roman I see you’ve occupied yourself with Emrys,” Janus drawled as he stepped further into the room.

Roman spun around on his heel quickly, “Janus I didn’t hear you come in! Yes, your plant! I didn't really expect you to be the plant type.”

Janus nodded, “Well I’m full of surprises, and so are you, I wasn’t expecting any visitors. To what do I owe the honor of your presence?”

“Um, you redecorated?” Roman said, completely ignoring Janus’s question.

The feeling of something being off with his room came back with a vengeance. He hated to admit it was a bit embarrassing how Roman could notice what was different and he couldn’t.

“How do you like it?” He asked, hoping to spark Roman’s passion for interior design.

“Well,” Roman started. “I do like it? Of course I thought you were more partial to the neon yellows, but the pastels are certainly a nice change. Also-” Roman gestured to the curtains, “-I like the new design of these!”

Janus looked around his room, Roman was… right. The colors were different, lighter, and the curtains were different, they looked more structured and had more light layers than the single sheet of fabric it had been previously.

“I thought it was time for a change of scenery…”

Roman nodded, far too enthusiastically for Janus’s liking. “Yes, they’re beautiful!”

“So why are you here?” Janus asked, changing the subject sharply as he turned and looked at Roman.

“I-Uh…nothing so I’ll just be going.”

“Level with me Roman,” Janus said. “I know you wouldn’t come here for no reason.”

“How did you meet Thomas?” Roman blurted.

“You were there.” Janus said flatly, “He needed me, and so I went.”

Roman bit his lip, “Right… he didn’t-” Roman shook his head, “nevermind.”

“Speak your mind.” Janus prompted gently, “We’re alone, and you know I of all people can keep a secret.”

“When you— I thought he’d—” Roman took a deep breath and composed himself before saying, “He didn’t _need_ to meet Remus.”

Janus tilted his head, “No, I suppose not, but he _wanted_ to.”

Roman’s head shot up and he stared at Janus, “Why?”

“He wanted to know who was making him think… strangely, for lack of a better word. So he got in touch with that side of himself.” Janus scanned Roman, “You’re jealous.”

He flinched, “That’s an ugly word.”

“It’s true though isn’t it?” Janus asked. “You’re worried Thomas doesn’t need you because you haven’t talked with him, but Remus, he has, it makes you feel... unneeded.”

Roman pursed his lips and looked away.

“It doesn’t work like that.” Janus said softly, “He has only met two of us, and you know he needs you.”

“Of course I do.” Roman said as he began to walk towards the door.

Janus flinched as the watch in his pocket burned with searing heat, and Janus mumbled under his breath, “I don’t need your help with this.” As he put a hand on Roman’s shoulder.

“You’ll get your moment, but don’t compare yourself with Remus. You don’t have the same function, if you didn’t you wouldn’t both need to exist.”

“Yeah… you’re probably right.”

Roman smiled tightly before making his way out the door.

Janus watched him go, lips pursed, he probably started out too strong. Ease into the self worth and self esteem issues next time. He shook his head when he remembered the watch, forcing Roman to talk would have only made things worse in the long run, he made the right choice, despite only succeeding in making Roman panic.

~~~

Virgil was panicking.

Well panicking was an understatement . He panicked plenty, but this was more like fucking freaking out.

He was on track to meet Thomas any day now, and although most of the others kept saying it would be whoever Thomas needed next it really kinda seemed like all the dark sides were meeting Thomas first. Which didn’t bode well for a kind of dark side type of guy.

It didn’t help that Thomas had made an awful decision to accept an invitation to go rock climbing with his friend and their friends. Who even likes rock climbing? Virgil thought to himself as he wrapped his arms around himself protectively. It’s stupid and hard and heights! Who likes heights? One slip and you’re dead. And if Thomas didn’t slip up he might distract his friend and make them slip up and then _their death would be on his hands._

Nope. Nuh-uh. Absolutely fucking not gonna happen.

The shadows hugged Virgil’s shoulders as he watched Thomas warily from his spot curled up in the darkest corner of the stairs. Thomas was watching Parks and Rec again as he tried to fall asleep because of course he was. It was familiar and if Virgil was _this_ anxious, Thomas must be feeling some of it.

Thomas sat up and readjusted as his thoughts murmured quietly around the room, Virgil couldn’t quite hear at his distance, but Janus did and he snickered as he looked straight at where Virgil was, the corner was black with shadows, “Oh of course you’re not nervous Thomas,” Janus said his honey sweet lie dripping like poison from his tongue.

Virgil’s back arched as he drew further in on himself.

“Virgil, we can't cancel.” Patton said calmly, as he noticed Virgil’s body language. “It would be rude to do so last minute.” 

“But heights!” Virgil cried, speaking for the first time since the group arrived. The shadows were creeping onto the ceiling now. 

“Oh pish posh,” Roman said, as he summoned a ball of yarn and flicked it towards Virgil who caught it automatically, “How is he supposed to get over his silly fear if he doesn’t go out and conquer it! Knit something, calm yourself.”

“No no **_no_**!” Virgil cried as he dropped the yarn and pressed his palms hard against his temples. “You’re not listening to me! Thomas doesn’t _know_ how to rock climb! He’s going to get hurt! He can’t do this! _You can’t make me do this!”_

Shadows all around the room began to grow.

“Virgil?” 

And then just like that, they were gone. Virgil looked around the room panicked, No this couldn’t be happening _now_! He didn’t know what to say, he didn’t know what to do, how could he help Thomas if he didn’t even know how to help himself!

“Okay,” He heard Thomas say from the couch, his eyes were open and skirting around the room, Virgil retreated back into the shadows a bit further. “Deep breaths Sanders, what’s worrying you this time?”

“You’re gonna get hurt.” Virgil mumbled, and Thomas’s eyes widened as he stared towards the corner he was sitting in. 

“Hello?” Thomas asked cautiously.

“You know jack shit about rock climbing,” Virgil continued. “And you’re _terrified_ of heights! What if you put the safety equipment on wrong? What if you do that then fall? Your upper body is not ready for this, you’re going to make a fool out of yourself.”

“Hey now-”

“And you only know one person in the group! So you’re going to make a fool out of yourself in front of a bunch of strangers or even _worse_ what if you make one of them fall! That would-”

Thomas took a deep breath and Virgil felt his stomach drop gently from where it had been lodged up in his throat. 

“Alright.” Thomas said, “Let's take a breather. Clearly this is making me very uncomfortable. I’m sure if I just explain my feelings about the matter they won’t mind if I cancel.”

The shadows from around the room all retreated slightly and Virgil looked up at Thomas, panic still set heavy in his heart, “But if you do _that_ , they might not invite you to anything else because you’re boring and a flake and you’ll be left out and alone.”

Thomas frowned and his eyes flicked around, considering, “...Or they will invite me to other things that don’t make me uncomfortable?”

Shadows coiled around Virgil as they retreated from around the room, “I guess,” Virgil mumbled.

“So… what are you?” Thomas asked, “my cautiousness? Vigilance? Stress? Adrenaline?”

Virgil shrugged, “Whatever you want.”

Thomas smiled warmly and Virgil squirmed slightly under his gaze, “Well Caution, it’s nice to meet you.” Thomas paused, “Do you have a name?”

“Dunno, I just work here,” Virgil lied.

That answer seemed to leave Thomas with more questions than it answered, which Virgil took that as a queue to disappear back into his mind. He was not going to stick around any longer than he had to, and he certainly didn’t want to answer any more questions than necessary.

Virgil reappeared in the imaginary living room, Patton and Roman were gone, but Janus was still sitting where he was when Virgil left. 

“Virgil.” Janus said without looking up from his knitting. 

“What are you doing here?” 

Janus looked up and set his knitting aside, “I never left. And it’s not like I know what meeting Thomas is like or anything.”

Virgil rolled his eyes. 

“And-” Janus continued as he stood up, “I know how _excited_ you were to meet him.”

As Janus walked past Thomas who was on the phone with his friend, Thomas winced and bit his lip, and Virgil wondered what caused it. Thomas’s friend probably hated him and never wanted to see him again and-

“Take a breath.” Janus said, tearing Virgil from his train of thought. “Did it go well?”

“Fine.” 

“Would you like to talk about it?”

Virgil shook his head, ‘No.”

Janus hissed slightly and his hand flew up to his chest like he’d been stung by Virgil’s quite simple rejection of his offer. “Are you _sure_?”

“I don’t want to talk,” Virgil said softly.

Janus stiffened, but didn’t object further, “well Patton told me to tell you he’d be in the kitchen if you needed anything.” And with that Janus sank out.

Virgil stayed and kept an eye on Thomas for a while, he wasn’t going to leave in the time of crisis. But after about an hour he sank back into the mindscape.

True to Janus’s word, Patton was in the kitchen when he appeared. Patton looked over, his gaze held so much sincerity Virgil just wanted to crawl up and spill his soul to Patton, “Hey Virge, how was it?”

Virgil shrugged in on himself and sat on one of the kitchen counters, “It wasn’t the worst thing in the world.”

“Oh that’s wonderful! What did Janus want?”

“Nothing.” 

Patton nodded slowly, “Kiddo are you-”

He didn’t get to finish that sentence because Logan walked in, “Patton I- oh Virgil I wasn’t expecting you to be back so soon.”

Virgil shrugged and hopped off the counter, “I was just leaving. Have fun or whatever.”

As Virgil meandered out of the room he heard Logan say, “How did your activity go with Janus?”

“It was… really nice.”

Virgil sucked on his tongue as he made his way back to his room. It was dark when he arrived, it always was, he liked it better that way. It usually made him feel comfortable, he was comfortable in the shadows, they made him feel at home, but today they were suffocating. 

They wrapped around him whispering thoughts into his ears, thoughts about everything that was going wrong, thoughts about Janus, thoughts about Patton, Logan. 

Maybe he should have stayed up with the others. Talked to Thomas. Talked to Janus. Talked to Patton. Talked to _anyone_. 

Virgil clenched his hoodie in his fists and curled into himself as his room cocooned him in shadows.

~~~

Maybe it was more trouble than it was worth, Janus thought as he stared down at the watch. It clearly was a stickler for communication which wasn’t exactly abundant at the moment or ever, and if he wanted to keep his skin, quite literally, he might need to find a different place to store it. 

There was a knock at his door and Janus shoved it back in his pocket, “Yes?”

Patton poked his head in the door, “Would you care to join me for a puzzle?”

It was a relatively mundane looking puzzle, a classic nature scene, and although personally Janus would have gone with something a bit more interesting, Patton was fidgeting like this was the most boring thing in the world, despite picking it out himself. 

“So…” Patton said as he flipped over the final piece, “De-Janus…?”

Janus looked up from where he was meticulously sorting the sky pieces away from all the others. “Why yes _Morality_ , are you okay?”

Patton blushed and looked a bit embarrassed, “Yes of course, everything’s fine.” 

The watch in Janus’s pocket burnt and he suppressed an eye roll, when Thomas said a gift of his did nothing, he really didn’t know what he was talking about, “This little engagement wasn’t purely to do a puzzle together was it.”

“No,” Patton admitted. “I wanted to talk to you and this seemed like a good excuse.”

“You don’t need an excuse to talk to me.” Janus said as he found one of the corners. 

“I wanted to apologize.”

Janus looked up sharply, “Why? What did you do? Were you the one that messed with my room?”

Patton laughed, “Oh no something happened to your room? I’d say Remus is the most likely culprit for that one.”

“It wasn’t his style, also he knows better than to mess with my room.”

“Well anyway, that wasn’t what I wanted to apologize for.” Patton ran his fingers over the edge of a piece, “I misjudged you and drew conclusions about you biased off nothing, and that was wrong of me. I’m sorry.”

“I… appreciate your apology. For curiosity's sake, what prompted this?” 

“Nothing in particular.”

The watch burnt _again_ and Janus yanked it out of his pocket.

“Okay that is _it_! We are going to have a conversation!”

“Oh is that a watch? Why is it glowing?”

Janus ignored Patton’s question as he summoned the rest of the sides. They all looked quite frazzled as Janus yanked them into the room.

“What was that for!” Roman cried as he tried to smooth down his hair.

“This better be important, I was in the middle of reorganizing my bookcase because _someone_ ,” Logan shot a look at Remus who was already laughing, “rearranged them to spell penis with the black spined books.” 

“Everyone _sit_. We are going to have an open and honest conversation if it’s the last thing I do!”

Everyone sat down quietly all but Remus who laughed, “I’m always open and honest! Why do I have to be here?”

“You are a part of Thomas as much as the rest of us, and clearly,” Janus said, glaring down at the watch, “he would like to be more honest with himself, so sit.”

Remus grumbled before hooking his knees over the couch and falling into it upside down.

“It has become _painfully_ clear to me over this past month that no one here communicates!”

“We’re fine.” Virgil said and the pocket watch that was set on the table glowed brighter.

“Oh I think not!” Janus said, “Everyone has communicated even less since Thomas first reached out, and it wasn’t very good to begin with! Now why don’t we go around and discuss our feelings, because you’re all acting more like me than I am, and that is a problem!”

Logan opened his mouth, “If I may, I don’t have-”

Janus shut him up, “Actually, you may not! You are participating, and you do have feelings, don’t even try to dismiss it. You literally differentiated yourself from pure logic the other day with Remus. So you will participate.”

Silence fell over the group again and Janus clapped his hands, “Everyone is going to participate, me included, because I’m not _that_ much of a hypocrite. Now-” Janus said, raising his hand, “-whose conflicted feelings are because of Thomas?”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! If you liked it please let me know!


End file.
